Best 2009 Toyota FJ Cruiser Hitch Options

Today we're going to be taking a look at the best hitch options available for the 2009 FJ Cruiser. The most popular we offer is the Hidden Hitch, part number 87412, class three hitch just like to other ones we've got here. Next most popular is going to be our CURT, part number 13367. Finally, our Draw-Tite, part number 75461. Now the first noticeable difference we're really going to see here is going to be the design of the hitch. As you can see, the Hidden Hitch and the Draw-Tite, which are the exact same hitch, they're going to have a long receiver tube that comes out from our main crosstube, whereas with the CURT it's been built in or engineered into the hitch. Our connection points sit further back.

That allows our tube to come back. You're going to see it all the way across the rear of the vehicle, but it opens up a little bit better as far as measurements go, which we'll touch on that in a bit. A couple of the other noticeable differences that we can see are going to be the bracket that's been welded on our Hidden Hitch and Draw-Tite. That's going to have three pre-drilled holes to allow us to mount wiring or little brackets if we want to mount something back here on the backside. Of course the crosstube here is square. With the Hidden Hitch and Draw-Tite you're not going to see that.

With the CURT we will see our crosstube coming across the rear. It beefs up the look of it a little bit, more of a personal preference kind of a thing. Another thing we're going to see, the plate design here on the top. It's not on our Hidden Hitch or Draw-Tite. Then the safety chain connection points are also a chain-style with the CURT, whereas with our Hidden Hitch and our Draw-Tite we're going to have more of a rolled steel stock. About the same as far as distances go or chain connection points.

I wouldn't really be too worried about that. Just more of an aesthetic feature. Another aesthetic feature that we're going to see, our CURT's going to be pretty flush here on the reinforcement collar that goes around the end. Hidden Hitch and Draw-Tite's going to be a little more rounded. As far as weight ratings go, with or without weight distribution, all things are equal across our hitch lineup. We're going to have a 500 pound maximum tongue weight.

That's the maximum downward force we can put here at the receiver tube opening all the way through our hitches, and a 5,000 pound gross trailer weight rating. That's going to be the total of our trailer and then anything that we've got loaded on it. If we go into weight distribution, our tongue weight on all three is going to move up to 600 pounds, while our trailer weight rating is going to move up to 6,000 pounds. Now we do want to take a look at the FJ Cruiser's manual just to ensure it can handle those kinds of loads. If not, we're going to go off of whichever of those numbers are the lowest. Going down through the hitches, installation is going to be fairly similar across the board. You're not going to have a big swing one way or another. They'll take you about the same amount of time to get them put in the vehicle. Our Hidden Hitch here you can see our dual pin setup. That's going to be just like the Draw-Tite. Now the bigger pin in the back, that's for our 5/8 or class three accessories, whether it's anti-rattle devices, hitch pins, bolts, things like that. The one in the front is for use with that j-pin stabilization system. That part number is 63201. Then you can use that in conjunction with the anti-rattle bolt that comes with it to get everything nice and secure if you choose to. Whereas on our CURT, we're going to have just a single 5/8 pinhole here. Again, works great with most of the accessories. You can see we're a little limited on access here on either side. You might want to keep that in mind if you're going with any of the really big hitch pin locks and things like that. This is what the Draw-Tite or what the Hidden Hitch is going to look like when you get it installed. You can see the double pin setup there. Nice hidden crossbar all the way across. Your CURT, you're going to see that tube right in this area going across before it goes up to its connection point. That might help you there make a decision pretty easily. If not, a few measurements that you're going to want to keep in mind. From the inside top edge of the receiver tube opening here down to the ground we're looking at about 19-1/4". Then from the center of our hitch pinhole to the outermost edge of our bumper it's about 2. Another measurement is from the center of our hitch pinhole to the outermost edge of our spare tire cover here. That's going to be about 8". We'll need that kind of clearance if we plan on using any of the fold-up cargo carriers or something like that. Now something that I like about the CURT, it's actually going to bring our receiver tube opening, you can see that little gap that we've got there, it's going to bring our receiver tube opening right up flush underneath there so we're going to gain about 3/4". We're going to be at about 20" from the inside top edge here to the ground. Our hitch pinhole location has also moved back. It's moved back quite a bit. We're looking at 2-3/4" further forward. Our hitch pinhole is actually out past the end of our bumper by about 3/4". That's going to make the distance from the center of our hitch pinhole to the outermost edge of our tire carrier only about 5-3/4". We're going to pick up about 2-3/4" of spacing between whatever accessory we've got and that spare tire carrier. For me, even though you can see it going across the rear of the vehicle, I'm probably going to go with the CURT. All things are equal when it comes to towing. We're buying ourselves more ground clearance and more space away from the vehicle. If you don't like the looks of that going across, if you're not using folding accessories or you don't think you're going to have any issues with clearance, maybe the Hidden Hitch or the Draw-Tite would be the right choice for you. Now that we've had a look over the best hitch options available for our FJ Cruiser, we hope it will make your buying decision a little bit easier.

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